American Tourister is a brand of suitcase.
Immigrant Sol Koffler founded American Luggage Works in Providence, Rhode Island in either 1932 or 1933 with his life savings. He was determined to produce luggage priced at $1 in the midst of the Great Depression. The company's breakthrough came soon after when Koffler devised a new line that was significantly better than that of the competition; he named it American Tourister.
In 1970, American Tourister launched a memorable ad campaign, highlighting the durability of its product by unleashing a "gorilla" (actually a man in a costume) on it. The commercial ran for fifteen years. It was also shown briefly in the 1995 film, Apollo 13.
In 1993, American Tourister was acquired by Astrum International, which also made Samsonite luggage. Astrum was renamed the Samsonite Corporation two years later.
American Tourister has now become a lower-end version of its Samsonite sister brand.
Famous quotes containing the word american:
“Greece is a sort of American vassal; the Netherlands is the country of American bases that grow like tulip bulbs; Cuba is the main sugar plantation of the American monopolies; Turkey is prepared to kow-tow before any United States pro-consul and Canada is the boring second fiddle in the American symphony.”
—Andrei Andreyevich Gromyko (1909–1989)